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Volume 48 Issue 4
July 2013

CCA CTA mobilizes against attempts to further privatize public colleges

Underfunding is the real issue

Faculty leaders are becoming increasingly concerned about two bills in the Legislature that could open the door to the privatization of public colleges and universities and even deny access to some students in the community college system.

Controlling online coursesOne of those bills, SB 520 by Sen. pro Tem Darrel Steinberg (D-Sacramento), will allow private sector vendors to provide massive open online courses (MOOCs) on campus, possibly to the detriment of students. The second bill, AB 955 by Assembly member Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara), would allow community colleges to increase student fees for summer and winter courses, ultimately limiting access to only those students who are able to pay.

CCA/CTA opposes the bills, and in the case of SB 520, is working in coalition with eight other faculty organizations and unions. CCA members have also sent hundreds of texts to their local legislators urging them to vote down the bill. Although SB 520’s supporters claim the bill will increase access to classes, there is no guarantee of success. Currently, a disproportionate number of students of color and lower socio-economic status are not succeeding with online classes due to a lack of access to technology and additional lab support.

Yet, perhaps more foreboding is what faculty leaders see as the corporatization of California’s public college system.

Business model trend“There’s definitely a trend toward a business model and they’re pushing students into it by hook or by crook,” said CCA Vice President Brad Reynolds, who monitors community college legislation for CCA. “It’s all based on the philosophy that private education is a good model and that the private sector is better, but there’s nothing that bears that out. These are assumptions I think we should contest.”

He also points out that both pieces of legislation fail to address the real problem.

Ultimately, this is the result of years of underfunding. If the Legislature wants to increase access, it must continue to increase funding to our public colleges and universities,” he said.